If anything, Battlezone’s a lesson in how easy games are nowadays. If Darran was writing this review it would probably contain the word ‘whippersnappers’, but the difference is startling. Fire up the 1980s classic and its lime vector outlines not only obscure the opposition but somehow make them able to shoot a fly sitting on your tank from half a mile away. Fast-forward to the ‘evolved’ incarnation, and the differences are greater than fluffy pink bullets and the ability to see your human opponents via Live Vision cam. You’re left roaming the virtual landscape, almost hoping opposition might come your way just for a bit of company.

For anyone who can’t directly remember decimalisation, Battlezone is actually 3D (shock horror), players controlling tanks that roam about the landscape in lumbering fashion, firing missiles at each other. Like most retro outings it’s pretty simple in premise, and not massively entertaining in our book seeing as you don’t actually view a lot of the action. Most of what goes on is based around listening for the audio cues. You never take on more than one enemy at once, and guided missiles are almost impossible to defend against with what’s essentially a rather lame shotgun. Live Arcade has given us many opportunities to don the rose-tinted glasses recently but, multiplayer options besides, we’re struggling to see beyond the scratches on severely worn lenses. You know what we mean.

4 out of 10